Locked down in the screen
Lockdown cinema, tigers and chess, Zoom, Pedro Pascal and anything creative-wise that came out of that time
Four years and the pandemic skip later, the time spent within four walls still seems like a fever dream. The whole world stopped, including the film industry. Of course, there were way worse things happening and bigger things to worry about. But from the creativity, the filmmakers dipped into to Mr “I’m never going to financially recover from this” Joe Exotic, here’s a throwback to the pandemic productions and entertainment.
NOTE: There was also a TikTok about that by yours truly - here.
Lockdown entertainment
The lockdown created space for binge-worthy series and films to flourish and become pop culture staples. And for the rise of both TikTok and Zoom. Can’t forget that. 2020 was the year when “Emily in Paris” premiered, inviting us into an American fantasy of (Western) European living of unwashed French frying pans. “The Queen’s Gambit” made us all play chess and hope to turn out to be a bigger prodigy than Beth Harmon and the Masked Chess Boy altogether. There was the first season of the television masterpiece, aka “Love is Blind”. And the lingering question of “Who killed Carole Baskin’s husband?” (Joe Exotic’s answer is obvious) with “Tiger King’s” toxic relationships becoming streaming gold.
The lockdown entertainment was off the charts, manufacturing countless viral moments. While I was in the best form of my life by climbing the stairs to the 13th floor instead of taking the lift, as it seemed like a reasonable enough idea. Watching theatre and opera online, taking part in Zoom parties and free remote ballet lessons. Started organising mystery film screenings for my friends with the marvellous invention of the Teleparty Chrome extension (and the screenings are still being held today). I was doing all that to pretend I was fine and not crying over my thesis, sporty, cultured, sane and not all robbed of my mid-twenties. And some people had their lives changed. Namely, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones as “Normal People” chose that time to hit us like a TGV and left us a complete emotional mess.
The industry shutdown
Let’s get down to some numbers first, though. There’d be no surprise in saying that the global theatrical and home entertainment market in 2020 declined 18% from 2019, while the digital increased 31%. In 2019, in the US, there were 987 theatrical releases. In 2021, it was 387. Part of it had to do with delays and cancellations caused by the pandemic, other to shorter or nonexistent theatrical windows in favour of streaming (remember “Black Widow”?). Within the box office turmoil, what the cinemas lost, streaming has gained.
But the rise of streaming was already heavily visible in 2019. Netflix dominated the industry, and some large media companies decided to enter the race. Disney+ was born that year, and other platforms, such as Apple TV+ and Peacock, joined soon after. So the transition from linear to streaming entertainment was in full swing before the pandemic, but it did expedite the change tenfold. Streaming subscriptions grew by more than 50%. The cinemas opened again, screenings returned to a regular schedule (or semi-regular with the recent strikes). But the damage had already been done, and the cinemas remained to face an uncertain future.
You know, there’s a reason there’s an unending flow of sequels - a higher probability of bringing in audiences. But, despite the franchise mania, independent films have been able to carve out a space for themselves, and the aftermath of the pandemic has brought more awareness to it. Or at least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself. The success of “Everything Every All At Once” might not be common, unfortunately. Still, when, with the height of the pandemic, the major studios were postponing release dates to draw in the largest audience possible, that was the moment for the indie projects to shine. And this is where the new COVID genre started to emerge.
The new genre
Storytelling comes from a place of personal experience. So, it was rather unavoidable for COVID-related stories to find their way into the entertainment. “Superstore” and “The Morning Show” being some of the TV examples taking place in current times that decided to go down the road of pandemic acknowledgement. Borat’s sequel (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) incorporated the reality of the pandemic into its plot mid-production. But simultaneously, the COVID film genre was being born from the limits of everyone’s hemmed-in imaginations. While COVID Cinema is a whole film subsection that puts the pandemic as the basis of its story, or, at least, acknowledges its existence, the need created a rise in the specific use of technology as well.
Although the Future of Film report was published in a pre-pandemic world, it offered thoughts on how the use of innovative “virtual techniques” is key to achieving “inclusive, sustainable and rewards innovation and creativity”. And while the productions were shut down, more and more filmmakers were using computer screens and creative solutions to deal with the situation.
DIY
Zoom has exclusively taken over 2020, and - love it or hate it - it has become a part of life. And of film production. “Host”, a horror where finally something exciting is happening on a Zoom call, was directed by Rob Savage entirely over that platform. A digital gathering of socially distanced friends, having an online seance that turns very real very fast as something spooky is summoned. One by one, they’re being picked off until the remaining friends are cut off by the call limit expiring. While, on some level, it resonates with the lockdown experience itself of the “alone-togetherness as its characters look on hopelessly from afar as loved ones end up in danger, with nothing to do but watch”; it’s also a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention as it was made with minimal tools - his crew, their laptops, and what they had at their disposal while quarantined. Although the use of computer screens as a narrative tool is not a 2020 invention, especially in the horror genre realm, it definitely came to the rescue during that time.
Not a horror fan? That’s OK. Pretty similar in execution to “Host” as being told through video chats, “Language Lessons”, an amazing rom-com about a platonic relationship between a Spanish teacher and her student, is your go-to then. Directed by Natalie Morales, it has only two leads (Morales and the one and only Mark Duplass) and is a lovely tale of blooming friendship, connection, and thread of understanding in a lonely reality. And there’s also one of my favourite ones, “Staged”, a British comedy series, starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant, and also using primarily video-conferencing tech. In the first season, they play fictionalised versions of themselves, rehearsing - or trying to - a performance during the lockdown, while the director, Simon Evans, struggles as well but with keeping control of the production. The second season, for a change, follows “real” Sheen and Tennant, following the success of the previous one. In the third one, Simon tries to get them to agree to a Christmas staged version of “Six Characters in Search of an Author”, then “A Christmas Carol” to finally become a metafictional behind-the-scenes doc of the show called “Backstaged”. Truly a treat.
Moving just a bit away from the screens, we cannot help but stumble upon Bo Burnham’s “Inside”, which was released in 2021 but became an unofficial anthem of the pandemic as a whole with Bo writing it, directing, filming and editing on his own. Although never mentioned by name, it is an introspective response to that time (and Burnham is clearly stuck in his flat) and the growing influence of internet culture over people’s mental health. And capitalism. Do I need to say more to prove it’s worth a watch? A unique and experimental artistic approach to comedy specials.
A Netflix series, “Homemade”, is an international anthology of pandemic shorts made by a variety of directors, including Paolo Sorrentino, Maggie Gyllenhall, Kristen Stewart, Ana Lily Amirpour, and Pablo Larraín. A rather mixed bag proving that sometimes, there were only so many ideas that the lockdown could accommodate. But there were some submissions, like Sebastian Schipper’s short about sharing an apartment with multiplying versions of himself as his sanity splinters. While Spike Lee released his own simple, three-and-a-half-minute short on Instagram. A montage filmed on Super 8 of New York in stasis but with spring in full bloom and Sinatra’s “New York, New York” playing in the background of the shots of “I Am Legend”-like empty streets and desolate landmarks. A month later, Jonathan Glazer showed his “Strasbourg 1518”, a ten-minute film about the pandemic inspired by a 16th-century case of possible mass hysteria. Dancers alone in the empty apartments, fling their limbs and hurl themselves against the walls to the score by Mica Levi. And “it is a potent visual metaphor for feelings of isolation-induced derangement as you’ll be able to find”.
Oh, and we can’t forget about the truest of the treasures. A bit odd after all these examples, but it’s worth it. “Home Movie: The Princess Bride” is the biggest gem. A comedy miniseries directed by Jason Reitman, a fan-made recreation of, of course, the 1987 “The Princess Bride”. Filmed by participating actors (and there are tones of them in there with an ensemble changing every other minute or even second) in a DIY fashion on their own phones. Madness, absolute madness in the most awesome way. It’s not about lockdown, it doesn’t mention the pandemic, yet it’s the purest product of that time out there.
The mask stays on
World crisis or not, there’s always space for romance. Even though romantic comedy did not probe any easier in the pandemic. Especially since these mostly followed a similar idea of a couple in a failing relationship forced to live together during the lockdown. Ah, the true horror. A rather tricky one to execute with charm.
“Locked Down” with Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor is about a married couple who break up right before the start of lockdown and are left to share a rather expensive London pad (horrible). Despite the cast and Doug Liman's directing, it’s not the best watching experience, rather more awkward than them having to stay together. A bit similar plot, minus the heist, has Stephen Daldry’s “Together” with James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan starring as a husband and wife, having to re-evaluate their relationship through the lockdown reality. There’s also “7 Days” from Roshan Sethi and the Duplass Brothers. Ravi (Karen Soni) and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan) meet on a pre-arranged date, organised by their traditional Indian parents to then be forced to shelter together. While the trope of claustrophobic couples may seem repetitive, each brings something unique.
Thriller, drama, and TikTok dances
Two years later, in 2022, Steven Soderbergh’s “Kimi” premiered with Zoe Kravitz as a young woman whose agoraphobia has been exacerbated following the pandemic. It is pretty Sodebergh-like, but it does incorporate COVID-19 into its story while not making it all about the virus. Featuring minimal locations and with most actors separate for the majority of the film, it takes place in a post-COVID-19 world, taking the traditional thriller structure and using the pandemic reality to enhance isolation and fear.
Shot during the pandemic, Pedro Almodóvar’s half-hour “The Human Voice” stars Tilda Swinton as a woman who’s been waiting for her former lover to pick up his things, pacing around an exquisite apartment that is also clearly a set. And even if it takes place in a world without the virus, it feels like it’s set deeply within the experience of lockdown. Also shot during that time, Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm & Marie”, with Zendaya and John David Washington, never mentions the pandemic either. Yet, manages to feel grounded in quarantine with the miserable lovers stuck in endless, circular argument coming from being together too long.
And then there’s “The Bubble”. For 2022’s “Jurassic World: Dominion”, over 40,000 COVID tests were taken and the entire cast and crew had to form a bubble in a hotel. The comedy “The Bubble” satirises exactly these experiences faced during the “Jurrasic World” production. Directed by Judd Apatow and starring a real feast of a cast with Pedro Pascal, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova (who, by the way, learned about her Oscar nomination for “Borat 2” on that set), and more, is not a masterpiece. But it is quite funny, ridiculous even at times, filled with dances and grabbing for sanity, and often makes no sense. But what did during time, anyway?
Too soon? Or too late?
The unintended sameness and recurring motifs. An agonising watch of various experiences of being stuck in one's house was reflected back at us then. Although that’s what social media and TikTok thrived on at the same time. At the time, it could also make sense that with so much pandemic content in such a short amount of time, the audiences would quickly get tired of these recycled themes. We’ve been there. Do we want to watch it?
I would like to, actually. Even more. Maybe in a bit, though, if anything new would be created. There was this small window of living through it, and now it should wait for the window of passed time. But I’ll still rewatch “Inside” and “Home Movie: Princess Bride” in a heartbeat. And maybe “The Bubble”. For Pedro Pascal. Or science, whichever you prefer.